Rock Maker 3.4 is here! This release features two new reports, some changes to the Screen Experiment Wizard, the ability to score experiments without images, and more. Read below for more details! Detailed information about each new feature is available in the help file.

New Features

Display multiple images in the Hit Report. You can now include up to two imaging settings with the hit report, providing you with more detail in our most popular report to date.

New Instant Drop Report. The hit report format is so popular, we made it into an Instant Drop Report! Now you can select some drops on the canvas and run an Instant Drop Report, which will provide you with the same type of report as the Hit Report -- no special score setup required!

Ability to score without images. You can now score experiments in Rock Maker even if you don't have images by setting the new "Scores: Allow scoring without images" system property to true (requires restart). Enabling this feature means that the images tab set and images view will appear when an experiment does not have images.

Better concurrent license management. If your site has reached its maximum number of concurrent licenses and an additional user tries to log on to Rock Maker, they will now be shown a message along with a list of active users and the amount of idle time. If necessary, you can force log-off a user, or go talk to your coworkers to see who can sign out so that you may complete your work.

Select multiple incubation temperatures in the Screen Experiment Wizard. The Screen Experiment Wizard now includes an option to set up the same screen experiment at multiple incubation temperatures.

Export Full Recovery FRAP data points. FRAP users can now export FRAP data points used to create the recovery curve via a new button on the Reports tab (requires Rock Imager 2.15).

Assign default schedules to plate types. If you always use the same schedule with specific types of plates, you can simplify your design process by defaulting the schedule to a certain plate type using a new item on the Plate tab in System Properties.

Export charts from Search & Filter. Search & Filter charts can now be exported so that you can easily use them in reports, electronic notebooks, or presentations. Choose from a .bmp, .jpeg, or .png file.

Optimize from Search & Filter. You can now create optimization experiments directly from Search & Filter results. Switch to the Canvas's design view, click one or more drops, and then click the Optimize button in the ribbon to create an optimization experiment.

Set slideshow images to traverse the column or row. There's a new control on the slideshow control bar that allows you to switch from viewing images across a row, to down a column.

Better Usability

Optimize by dragging wells into a folder. Previously, you could only create an optimization experiment by dragging a well or wells into a project. Now, you can drag the wells into a folder (as long as the folder is under a project).

Improved imaging tuning on the Compare tab. We’ve made it easier for you to adjust image brightness and contrast when you are working in the Compare tab -- Rock Maker will show you which image you are manipulating by highlighting the image in an orange outline.

Optimization and dispensing tutorials added to Rock Maker University. Rock Maker University has two new tutorials! In the grid optimization tutorial, Rock Maker teaches you how to take one or more wells and create a grid optimization experiment. If you’re an NT8 user, Rock Maker will now walk you through how to properly set up an NT8 dispense.

New navigator display preferences. With the new Navigator Preferences, you can choose to show the newest images first on the image timeline, and elect whether to display relative or absolute time points with the thumbnails.

Hide unused stocks and ingredients. A new Active column has been added to the Stocks table on the Edit Ingredient window. By default each ingredient will be Active. You can clear the check box to make an ingredient inactive, which hides it from the stock selector during the experiment design process.

Save all open experiments. You can now save all open experiments at once! The Save All button is available both on the quick access menu and on the application menu, or you can use the CTRL+SHIFT+S keyboard shortcut.

Multi-select in Find Drops. You can now multi-select in find drops results! Choose multiple ingredients or scores to show the related drops on the canvas at once. This selection works as an "or", so if you select multiple ingredients, your results will include items with any of those ingredients.

Choose whether to show ingredient long names or short names. You can now opt to display ingredient short names instead of the long names by configuring the new system property “Ingredient: Show Long Name”. This property affects all panels that display on the right of the Canvas.

New notifications to prevent imaging confusion. We’ve made a few changes to help make the Rock Maker - Rock Imager connection easier to use and understand. First, when you ask Rock Maker to print a label for a plate, Rock Maker will now notify you if any of the wells at the plate do not have a protein assigned. Rock Imager will not image wells that do not have both well ingredients and a protein assigned. Secondly, if you attempt to run an “image now” command, Rock Maker will tell you if a plate when a plate is not in Rock Imager storage and therefore cannot be imaged. Third, text will display above the Imaging Schedule if plate is not inside an imager to alert you as to why it is not being imaged.

New navigator strip. We’ve updated the navigator strip (at the top of your drop images) to match the rest of the application. It's now easier to read and use.

Convert experiments to screens with a single mouse-click. If you have designed an experiment that you want to use in multiple experiments, the best thing to do is convert it to a screen, and then drag the screen to each experiment as needed. This button has been added to the Tasks group in the Design tab for easy access.

Color coded ingredients in design view ingredient info panel. Colors on the canvas are now directly mapped to the ingredients in the ingredient info panel when you are in design view, so you can quickly see a visual representation of how different ingredients make up the contents of a well.

New icon in the Explorer for experiments in design phase. We’ve added a new icon to the Explorer to indicate experiments that are in the design phase -- not yet dispensed, and not yet imaged. The icon looks like a pencil on top of the existing experiment icon.